Oleksandr Usyk vs. Anthony Joshua II: Boxing Odds, Prediction

Almost a full year after their first fight, heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk and Anthony Johnson will square off again with the WBA (Super), IBF, WBO and IBO heavyweight titles on the line this Saturday in Saudi Arabia. This is the first title defence for Usyk, who unseated Joshua as the heavyweight king last September.

Usyk is a -182 favourite to win on the boxing odds, while Joshua is a +151 underdog.

Fight Outcome

Usyk by KO, TKO or DQ +162
Usyk by Decision or Technical Decision +225
Joshua by KO, TKO or DQ +250
Joshua by Decision or Technical Decision +700
Draw or Technical Draw +1600

Oleksandr Usyk Boxing Odds

Usyk (19-0) made his pro debut in 2013 after winning a gold medal at the 2012 Olympics. The Ukrainian began his pro career at cruiserweight, winning the WBO cruiserweight title in 2016. Usyk became the undisputed cruiserweight champion through the 2017-18 World Boxing Super Series tournament. He beat Marco Huck and Mairis Briedis for the WBC cruiserweight title, then added the WBA, IBF and The Ring cruiserweight titles with a knockout victory over Murat Gassiev.

Usyk made the jump to heavyweight three years ago, defeating Chazz Witherspoon in October 2019 and Derek Chisora in October 2020. Those wins earned Usyk a shot at Joshua, who at the time was the WBA (Super), IBF, WBO and IBO heavyweight champion. The fight would last the full 12 rounds. Usyk won by unanimous decision to become the new undisputed heavyweight champion. It was his sixth career win by decision, while he has 13 wins by knockout.

After doubting “The Cat” had enough size or power to hang with Joshua in the first fight, Usyk proved fans and pundits wrong. The 35-year-old largely controlled the fight, with judges scoring it 117-112, 116-112 and 115-113 in favour of Usyk. He relied on his power early but became more cautious and calculating as the fight wore on. That’s a strategy that Usyk has said he won’t follow in the rematch as he wants to come out a lot heavier than last time.

Anthony Joshua Boxing Odds

Joshua (24-2) also made his pro debut in 2013, beating Emanuele Lee via TKO. The 32-year-old earned the Commonwealth and British heavyweight titles with wins over Gary Cornish and Dillian Whyte. Joshua spent the next few years racking up wins against impressive opponents like Charles Martin, Dominic Breazeale, Eric Molina, Wladimir Klitschko, Carlos Takam, Joseph Parker and Alexander Povetkin between 2016 and 2018. The Martin win earned Joshua the IBF heavyweight title, the Klitschko win secured the WBA and IBO heavyweight titles and the Parker win got him the WBO heavyweight title.

“AJ” lost the WBA (Super), IBF, WBO and IBO titles when he suffered his first career loss via TKO against Andy Ruiz Jr. in 2019. He later regained the titles by winning the rematch. Joshua successfully defended the titles with a knockout win against Kubrat Pulev at the end of 2020, before losing to Usyk last year.

Joshua struggled heavily in the first fight against Usyk despite being the taller and heavier fighter. He was mainly picked apart by Usyk’s speed and struggled to inflict damage on his Ukrainian opponent. This is a massive deal for Joshua. If he loses on Saturday, he will have dropped three of his last five fights and that could be enough to end his time at the top of the division.